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Food-Tax Repeal Fails, But Spokesman Claims Noem Did Enough to Promote Promise

Gubernatorial (well, we got “goober” and “nut” right) spokesboy Ian Fury tried to change the story about his boss Kristi Noem’s abject failure as a policymaker by calling Democrats liars for saying Noem didn’t work hard enough to promote her signature campaign promise to repeal South Dakota’s tax on food:

Ian Fury, tweet, 2023.02.23.
Ian Fury, tweet, 2023.02.23.

Come on, Ian. You’re a big political boy. You know that in the line of work you’ve chosen, all that matters is results. Did you win the election or not? Did the bill pass or not?

I’ve run ballot question campaigns. Sometimes I’ve won; sometimes I’ve lost. If a reasonably objective journalist or even a staunch Republican opponent reviewed my losses and said, “Gee, Cory, you didn’t do enough to promote those measures,” I wouldn’t say they have “levied a patently false allegation.” I’d say, “Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t get enough signatures. I didn’t raise enough money and hire enough circulators. I didn’t advertise and get on TV and radio and in the papers enough. I didn’t make my case to enough people, or to enough of the right people, to get this measure on the ballot and win the votes.”

Determining whether Governor Noem did enough to promote House Bill 1075 to eliminate the sales tax on groceries is pretty simple. You don’t count tweets; you count votes.

Did it pass?

No.

Logical conclusion: Noem, just like the Democrats who proposed numerous food-tax repeals in past Sessions, did not do enough to promote this policy. It is preposterous to claim otherwise.

25 Comments

  1. Donald Pay 2023-02-26 10:15

    I respectfully disagree in part, Cory. Clearly, Noem is a show pony, not a workhorse. I think her entire political history shows she’s lazy, clueless and unable to sustain a real political fight. About all she is able to do is stand for a few minutes before a camera and give a short statement that’s been written for her. She does that one task pretty well. Her lack of abilities prevent her from sustained activity on anything else.

    You hit on the real problem. There was no grassroots effort to push the issue. I’m not talking about Democrats. I’m talking about everyday South Dakotans hounding legislators at every opportunity. I’m talking about a media campaign to push the issue independent of the Governor. Noem could have been helpful with money and statements, but people independent of the political system needed to be involved.

  2. 96Tears 2023-02-26 10:55

    Kristi’s lapdog Ian Furry seems a bit grumpy with having to – again! – rationalize his boss’ incompetence to the (ick!) press and the little people of South Dakota.

    “Media reached out for my response to this preposterous claim. Here it is:”

    Bow wow!

    Frankly, Mr. Furry, your bloated opinion of yourself makes it difficult to hear what you’re saying above your yapping and snarling. You don’t seem to realize that your mistress made the claim of engineering the largest tax cut in South Dakota history in the final weeks of what was turning into a disastrous re-election campaign. We all saw the event staged in that Rapid City grocery store, children and women standing dutifully behind her, Larry Rhoden standing by her side and your mistress holding that microphone close — of so close — to her seductive, pouty, Botox engorged lips … announcing in capital letters the “LARGEST TAX CUT IN SOUTH DAKOTA HISTORY.” Below that, her claim that she has been “CUTTING TAXES AND SAVING FAMILIES.”

    Gee, Mr. Furry, you would think that this was all a fait accompli when you launched her Twitter statement on September 28, 2022, with the above photo:

    “I’ve seen families across SD struggle to make ends meet because of Biden’s inflation. I’m proposing the largest tax cut in state history: eliminating sales tax on groceries.

    “This will put $100 MILLION back into the pockets of SD families.

    “Cutting taxes. Saving families $$$.”

    Well, Ian, it did the trick. She turned around the poll numbers showing Jamie Smith gaining on her. And then you flipped the message to claim that “Jamie Smith is too extreme for South Dakota” as her closing message with a constant barrage of TV ads.

    But where are we now, Ian? Your pals in the legislature just smashed Noem’s proposal back into her face like a cream pie. If only she put the same effort in carrying out her promise as much as she did in inventing it. Or as much as she has put into running for President of the United States for the four years and one month. If only she could have put as much punch into passing her signature bill this month as she did in appearances this month before Fox News, the America First Policy Institute and D.C. press about the threat of the Chinese Communist Party, other “evil foreign governments” and mewling about the Chinese spy balloon.

    That’s where her effort went this month, Ian. Other than slinking up to the third floor to pitch her sales tax proposal to a committee hearing, February 2023 was all about her ridiculous quest to become President of the United States (or a political appointment).

    The bottom line, Ian, is your mistress is capable of doing things that appeal to her ego. Getting re-elected was one of them. Becoming President and returning to the Potomac River Koolaid Society is another. But passing her signature legislation to produce the largest tax cut in South Dakota history and saving families? All that was a bunch of crap to win an election last November.

    We all know that. Every Republican legislator and Democrat legislator knew that. You are fooling nobody. No amount of your yapping, snarling and mewling is going to change what we all saw with our own eyes. Noem doesn’t care about her job and her promises.

  3. All Mammal 2023-02-26 13:15

    Ian and his lips on sticks bosslady are the best source for preposterousity. SD should receive royalties for being the prime story source for the writers of Law and Order: SVU. The show’s uncanny plot lines are straight from our insidious, everyday immorality. Mr. Fury and KN are caricatures.

  4. Mark Anderson 2023-02-26 13:52

    Ian knows hard work, after all they love the Greek life at Hillsdale.

  5. Arlo Blundt 2023-02-26 14:13

    Well…it is an embarrassment and Governor Noem does not handle embarrassment well. I believe she shoved Mr. Fury in the back and said “Get out there and say something. Anything.”

  6. Vi Kingman 2023-02-26 18:02

    Let’s give Noem the benefit of the doubt and say she tried as hard as she could to get rid of the food tax.
    What that means is that if she can’t even persuade her own part to vote to repeal the tax then how in the hell can she lead at a national level?
    What this means is that she is no leader.

  7. grudznick 2023-02-26 18:26

    Mr. Smith got trounced. Trounced, I say, as bad as you can make it except for that record setting Wismer fiasco.

    We should all let the food taxes rest in peace. For we, here in South Dakota, don’t want an income tax which would come to replace the repeal of the food taxes. This is what Mr. Nesiba wants.

  8. Edwin Arndt 2023-02-26 18:50

    It needs to be pointed out that no amount of leadership will convince
    people to go where they don/t want to go.
    Witness the division in the USA.

  9. Edwin Arndt 2023-02-26 18:54

    A whole lot of people just flat out resist leadership
    of any kind whatsoever.

  10. grudznick 2023-02-26 19:26

    Mr. Arndt is wiser than most.

  11. Mark Anderson 2023-02-26 19:51

    It’s more resisting the will of the people while admiring your leadership in the mirror.

  12. larry kurtz 2023-02-26 20:04

    It’s important to note that whatever Mrs. Noem is doing is the antithesis of leadership.

  13. O 2023-02-26 20:59

    Why don’t “we” want an income tax, grudznick? I believe your bumpersticker warrants deeper exploration. I believe a more precise defining of the “we” of your sentence would show that the “have more” of SD do not want an income tax; the “have less” may disagree, and SOMEDAY, democracy just may prevail.

  14. grudznick 2023-02-26 21:05

    We, Mr. O, don’t like income taxes. That’s why. Ask the people, and they will answer.

  15. Mark Anderson 2023-02-26 21:42

    Why don’t you ask if people want a fair tax grudz.

  16. Anne Beal 2023-02-26 22:01

    Donald Pay, if you think all she can do is stand in front of a camera for a few minutes and read a prepared statement, you have obviously never attended an event where she took questions directly from the audience (not ones submitted to a moderator for screening) and gave quick coherent responses as fast as the questions were asked.
    Having been to a number of events with other politicians over the years, her ability to respond to questions is very impressive. Independent of policy positions, answering questions in those circumstances is usually the rare talent of White House Press secretaries. It’s kind of like watching contestants on Jeopardy. Obviously they all have had some idea of what questions are going to be asked but sometimes there’s a zinger out of left field, like the fellow in Brookings many years ago, when she was in Congress, who stood up to rant about how every time he calls her office the staff are rude and hang up on him. He went on quite a bit and never did say what he was calling her office about. That was entertaining.
    You really should go to some of these events. Sometimes they’re really funny.
    Watching Dusty Johnson argue with election deniers is another act you should try to catch sometime, too.

  17. All Mammal 2023-02-26 22:50

    Someone who’s office staff is rude and hangs up on concerned citizens does not belong in the same realm as Jeopardy. Jeopardy has truth and honor. Jeopardy is so far beyond fake pageantry, it’s like comparing Walmart cupcakes that turn your tongue blue to white chocolate raspberry crème brûlée.

  18. ABC 2023-02-27 02:30

    Low tax Republicans have increased tax on food up to 6.5 % and now want to reduce it to 6.2%, which is probably higher than Democrats had it in the 1970s.

    Democrats flexed their Me Too muscles and voted against 1075, which would have brought it to 0%. Republicans Lite?

    July 1, I will save 3 cents for every $10 of food that I buy. I promise to shine the spotliight on my growing sum of great money, and we will all learn that 3 cents not taxed can grow into millions, once you rest your complaining muscles. It’s not the amount of cash you have, it’s how you focus your Mind on increasing what you have by appreciating it. 3 cents is billions, when you enjoying living in the now.

  19. ABC 2023-02-27 02:33

    You want to be millionaire? July 1, celebrate every time you buy food and save 3 cents out of $10 !!
    It grows into millions easily. Shift your Mind to appreciation.

  20. Anne Beal 2023-02-27 08:06

    All Mammal, perhaps you have a problem with reading comprehension: I explicitly stated that the guy went on for quite a while about how “every time” he calls her office her staff is rude, and he went on for quite a bit, but never said what he was calling her office about.

    Even when given the opportunity to speak with the Congresswoman herself, he never said what his problem was.
    Her answer revealed she was aware of his frequent phone calls and had instructed her staff to be polite to him.
    Now it doesn’t take a huge amount of imagination to figure out that if the staff is telling her “this guy keeps calling but never tells us what the problem is,” they are probably asking her what they should say to him.

    These forums can be very entertaining.

    I went to one that featured John Boehner when he was Speaker of the House. A man stood up and started in on a rant, finally saying “I guess I’m not asking a question, just making a statement.” and Speaker Boehner said “I know, I grew up in a bar and I can tell the difference.”

    If you arent going to these events you have no idea what you’re missing.

  21. larry kurtz 2023-02-27 08:13

    In my home state of South Dakota the Republican governor chose to infect thousands (some reports say millions) with the Trump Virus putting its entire population at risk. Kristi Noem’s biological war on her own constituents created dire circumstances sending nurses out of state, forcing people over 65 into the workplace and driving the closure of nursing homes. Without butts in the pews the Rapid City Diocese even received almost $400,000 in aid from the Trump Organization but it was too little, too late according to President Paula Langteau at Presentation College in Aberdeen.

  22. O 2023-02-27 10:06

    We don’t like a tax system where those with the most get to opt out of paying and those with the least are ensured being squeezed of every dollar. Just ask us.

    I also find it troubling that your “we” that do not like income taxes has the power to defund the agency that investigates and collects those taxes as a way to avoid paying them, but that’s another thread.

  23. All Mammal 2023-02-27 14:32

    Ms. Beal- I would love to go to one of those but the miasma of stuffy pants and aftershave and bs make me nauseous. Sometimes I catch a whiff just from watching the legislature on PBS.

    Hey, when was the last time KN took off-the-cuff questions from the public in SD- where all were invited? I would attend. She refuses to speak with local press and uses lame excuses to justify keeping us in the dark. How many people on the state executive branch’s full-time payroll has PR in their job description? For our governor alone? Six? Seven? You can’t get much more removed from the people than that. She could cut back enough of her own socialist spending to save the food tax repeal.

    We learned in 2nd grade Science, in regards to simple machines, that in order for WORK to have been performed, something has to physically be moved from one location to another. Ms. Moore had us kids go outside to a brick wall and push against it as hard as we could. We truly exerted ourselves by the time she relieved us. She asked if we worked hard. Exhausted, we chorused, “Yes!”
    “Oh, contraire”, she said. Because the wall had not budged, no work was performed.

    Governor Noem and Mr. Fury have excuses for not getting the work done. She is a promise breaker. Mr. Fury even blamed Democrats! Man, he is ripe. Hehehe

  24. Donald Pay 2023-02-27 14:40

    Anne, she’ll take questions from lapdogs. Otherwise she’s a crybaby. I’m sure she’s memorized a number of stock lines to rattle off when she gets a tough question, so, yeah, I will amend my statement to say in addition to reading what somewhat else writes, she also memorizes what someone else writes.

  25. O 2023-02-27 16:56

    If a governor is trying to sway votes in a committee hearing, then it is too late. Those votes are lined up FAR ahead of those times for the make-or-break, defining issues of the party leaders. One does not show up on game day — even if able to know down a couple of jump shots from the field — and think one gets to start the game, determine the strategy, and lead the team to victory. Teams and plays have long been decided and practiced before that public performance.

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